::sigh:: Why must the dog bark fifteen minutes before the alarm goes off?

But indeed it was the time of arising, if after arising one wants to watch Rin Tin Tin with your breakfast. :-) Today's two episodes had Rusty become blood brothers with an Apache boy and then believe in the innocence of an outlaw—a little bit too much. The outlaw was played by Dean Fredericks, who would later play straight arrow Steve Canyon in the series by the same name.

We went out shopping afterwards. Are trying some new sugar-free ice cream bars for dessert, these from Eskimo Pie. [Later: pretty good. Not sure if they are as good as Blue Bunny; we've had so little freezer room we haven't been able to buy them for literally a couple of years.] Sort of an aimless grocery run, and no "scathingly brilliant ideas."

James had forgotten to get gasoline before we bought ice cream and milk, so we came home to put it away, and page through the sales papers to see if there was anything we needed. There wasn't, so we just went to the Village Store, which still has the cheapest price in the neighborhood. James went inside, and I stood looking at a stand of trees to the back of the store. A chickadee was loudly proclaiming his "dee-dee-dee" song insistently...and then suddenly came the "pheee-bee" call of the courting chickadee. I guess they found each other! :-)

James wanted to find some gold foil, so we went to Michaels. Unfortunately we'd walked out without the coupons, and both of the things we saw were quite pricey. So we left it for later in the week. PetSmart next door was doing adoptions. I felt bad for the Australian shepherd mix who had been abandoned by two families who couldn't afford to keep her. There was also a poor Jack Russell bitch who had been rescued from a fire at a puppy mill-type setup. I have never seen a Russell so quiet; James talked to her soothingly and she still flinched each time he gently extended a hand. Poor thing.

We came home by Walgreens, and then came home to do a dirty deed: clip Willow's claws. She hates this, although I try to pet and soothe her. Unfortunately, her claws have really become too long, and I think it was influencing how she walked. It took a while, but I talked to her all the time, uselessly trying to explain to her that Human Women actually pay to have this done! One by one, I did get the claws trimmed, including those curving dewclaws, and indeed one was curling back and starting to approach the pad. No quick was cut and most of the time she just lay there looking like Camille in her death throes, but she was fine, and I gave her a treat afterward without her having to do a trick for it. I also trimmed the hair around her paws so they don't get so dirty when she goes into the yard when it's wet, and between the pads so that she will have better traction on the kitchen floor.

And after that I was pooped! I had to change my clothes because I was covered in shed fur and nail clippings, and then I vacuumed up where I had done the trimming. Read the rest of the paper, watched Lassie and then a cute Food Network special with Mo Rocca learning how to cook like a grandmother. Now I'm dubbing off Best Defense for James.